Have You Seen My Shoes?
by CinnimonBuns
Summary: A year after the fall of the Mad King Ashnard, Elincia is to give an address to the nation; life has been rough and she has to assure the people that things will get better. However, the day before the address, a small problem arises...


"Have you seen my shoes?" Elincia asked, peaking out of her dressing room, "I need to set out my apparel for the address this afternoon." It had been one full year since they had dethroned the Mad King Ashnard and retaken the throne. Elincia was to adress the people today, as there had been some troubles in the nation lately; if she didn't make peace with the people soon, a coup d'état was eminant. "Lucia? Bastion?" She was all alone… Where had her friends gone? "Hello?" Elincia, still barefooted, stepped out into the large room, used mainly as a resting place for her retainers. She curled her toes in, the marble tile cold beneth her, fruitlessly hoping it would save her feet from their frigid nemesis. She dashed across the room, trying to get off the marble as quickly as possible. She reached the doorway, swiftly grabbing the frame and using it to swing around the turn. On she went. Darting down the long hallway. It was absolutely silent, save the sound of her feet faintly clapping against the marble. Here came the hard part: stairs. She knew she would fall if she tried to run down the forty-three stairs that stood between her and the entryway of the palace. She grabbed the rail, swung her left leg (still bare to the mid thigh) up over the banister, squeezed her eyes shut, and hoped she wouldn't fall. She did this type of thing quite frequently, almost every week, but sliding down the banister never ceased to bring her terror. When she had reached the newel post at the bottom, she flipped her right leg over the rail, dropping a few extra inches to the floor. Elincia opened her eyes and smiled, happy to be on solid ground again. She hastily leaped into the air, remembering just how cold the marble was in the fall, and darted towards the door. She ran out into the sun, a smile streaking across her beautiful face. Her arms spread, embracing the warmth. The dewy morning grass popping up between her toes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ah…" was all she spoke before returning to her task.

"Yeah!" Jill exclaimed, laughing along with her tall companion.

"That's not even the best part!" the young man shouted happily, "That same fighter swung again! He must have had a brave axe! He missed me FOUR TIMES!" That was that. The two were lost in a sea of laughter. They actually spent a lot of time together; Jill flew up on her wyvern almost every other day with a parcel for someone around the palace. She might even spend more time around the palace than he did!

"Ike! Jill!" was what they heard when the laughter started to die away, it was faint, coming from the distance, but audible.

"E… lincia?" asked Ike, perplexed at hearing their names from across the courtyard, "Elincia?"

Jill smiled, saying, "I hope so; I have a necklace for her, from Begnion."

They walked toward her, not taking great strides, but still moving at a decent speed, until they reached the girl. Ike couldn't help but smile when he saw the girls beautiful green eyes, sparkling in the sunlight, and her mystifying smile; there was something about her smile, it wasn't anything special, but it was at the same time incredible.

"Where's your dress…?" Jill asked, breaking the blissful silence.

Elincia's eyes widened. She hadn't realized she was still in her night gown! And with Ike right in front of her? How humiliating! Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson, her knees bending in, and her hands coming together just above her knees to try and hide her thighs, "I… I…" She didn't know what to say; her embarrasment unexpressable. "I…" Her eyes swelled, filling with tears. "I just…" she meekly said, salty tears rolling down her cheeks. "Just…" She couldn't do it. The shame was too much. She turned and ran, not towards the castle, but towards a field to the west. She ran. She ran and didn't look back, tears flickering from her cheeks.

"Elincia!" Ike shouted, stretching his arm towards her, but it was too late. She was gone. "Damn… Why is that girl so fast?" he barked, frustrated that he had let her slip away.

"I'm sorry, Ike..." Jill said unhappily, "I shouldn't have mentioned—

"No. It wasn't your fault Jill. You couldn't have known she would react like that."

"Well… She wouldn't have had a happy reaction…"

"I'll go after her… That shouldn't have been so upsetting," Ike explained, and before Jill had a chance to respond, he was gone, off to the field.

"I… Can't belive that happened…" Elincia said, sobbing gently, her forehead resting on her knees. In her first few weeks of rule, she had stumbled upon a small cavern, the small enterance hidden by trees of the surronding forest. Since then, this cavern had become an oasis to her, the one place that she could go when she was upset or overwhelmed by her royal duties. "I…"

"Where… Where is she?" Ike cried, searching frantically for his Lord. He had watched her run this way, why couldn't he find her? It was so frustrating! He let out a shrill cry, the only thing he could think of to release his aggravation. When the sound of his own shriek echoed back to from the trees, he shouted, "That's it!" If he could hear his own voice, why not Elincia's? His hopes of finding her all rode on possibility that she was still crying. He listened. Nothing. He took a few steps forward. Nothing. Again frustrated by his own failure, he ran, as fast as he could, tripping, after only a few steps, on a stone sticking out of the ground. "Oof!" He took a deep breath and started to stand up, when it happened. He heard her!

Now stumbling, having hurt his ankle during the fall, Ike crept slowly towards the faint sobs, weaving in and out of trees in the forest. There was nothing. Nothing but him, the trees, and few faint sobs. Until he found a wall. A wall? In the forest? "What…? This must be a cave of some sort… But where's the enterance?" He walked, right hand sliding against the stone, trying to find the enterance. The sound was coming from inside the cave, he was sure of that.

"E-Elincia?" Ike said when the stone yielded, peeking his head into the darkness of the cavern, "Are you in here?"

The sound dissapeared. She was hiding. Ike knew it. He pressed into the shadows, having nothing but his fingers to guide him. Crouching, to aviod hitting his head if the ceiling was to lower, he slid his fingertips across the jagged wall, feeling for the girl. "Elincia. Where are you?"

Silence. He sat down, leaning against the wall, "Fine. I can wait Elincia," pausing a few seconds before finishing, "I'll be right here, when your ready to talk."

"Ike," Elincia murmured, scooting acrossed the floor towards him, stopping only their thighs were touching, "why did you come here?"

"Elincia… You were crying, I had to come. I have to fix things," he said softly, turning his head towards her, "To make them better."

Silence again. "You didn't have to."

"What happened, Elincia? Why were you so upset?"

"Ike! I was embarrassed! You saw me undressed!"

"I am sorry for that, Milady, but that isn't enough to have made you react like that, is it? You're stronger than that."

"I… I…" the flow of tears again rushing, "I am sorry…"

"Sorry? Why? You've done nothing wrong."

"I ran from you and I hid from you. I acted rashly. This is not how a leader should react. I'm sorry for being weak…"

"Elincia! Having feelings doesn't make you weak, it makes you human. A true leader is not without heart; a true leader has feelings, they just have friends to help them through."

... She didn't say anything. But she didn't need to. Though he couldn't see it, Ike knew what the silence brought. It brought back that special smile. The one that made him smile too. The one that he loved.

"Now," Ike said, wrapping his arm around Elincia, "let's get you back to the palace." Her head falling gently to Ike's shoulder, "And maybe dressed." She giggled.

What was once a silent cave filled with tension and tears, had become a peaceful dwelling filled with laughter and love.

That day, everything changed for Elincia. She still had feelings, she still got overwhelmed, but she didn't try to deal with it alone anymore. She didn't have to. She had Ike. He would always be there for her, when the peasants celebrated her reign and when the nobles raged against it. Elincia was no longer the weak Princess Crimea. No. She had changed. She was stronger. She was Queen.


End file.
